Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Good morning everyone! I hope that all you who will be enjoying temperatures of 70 degrees or less today will pause for a moment to savor your good fortune. I, on the other hand, will be preparing to hermit myself away inside my house as much as possible for the next many days. Not only will today's temp reach 90 but tomorrow & the day after we will be cursed with temps in the 100s! No sign of temps getting below 90 for the next 10 days. No real sign of rain either : (

On a happier note I have some, well, happiness to share with you : ) First is this RAK I received from Kaye at Kitten Stitching. She posted a stitching project not long ago that she had stitched using some variegated thread I had not heard of before. They are Cottage Garden Threads. The effect was lovely & I told her how pretty I thought the thread was. Well, Kaye decided to send me some! Aren't the colors absolutely gorgeous? I can't wait to stitch with them! Thank you again Kaye : )

This next photo shows a beautiful punchneedle bird which I purchased from Ronda at Simple Thyme Prims. Ronda is an amazing punchneedle artist. I really love punchneedle & actually thought about taking it up myself a while back. I even went so far as to buy some threads & patterns & hoops & books after which I asked myself "What are you doing?!?!?" I had tried punchneedle many years ago & failed miserably at it. I also pointed out to myself that I had plenty enough irons in the fire as it is! I then decided to purchase a punchneedle piece from an online sales site & of course now I don't remember which site that was but the piece was made by Ronda. It was beautiful! I contacted Ronda & asked if she did custom orders for people & she said yes so I zipped her off a list of items I would love to have & this is one of them. It's a With Thy Needle & Thread pattern called Home Tweet Home. I saw this bird somewhere on the internet once upon a time & fell in love with it. Now I have one : )

And I have started knitting my shawl! If the truth be told I actually started it 3 times & got about this far & then had to rip it out & start again. The first time I wasn't happy with the look of the cast on edge. I tried casting on in various ways & wasn't thrilled with any of them & decided that the cast on I had originally started with would have to suffice. I am hoping the wonkiness of it will disappear after blocking. Next I knitted to this point & found I had made an error a few rows back. I didn't incorporate a lifeline into the project which would enable me to rip back to a certain point & easily restitch from there rather than ripping out the whole thing. I made the decision to forego the lifeline because the pattern is a very simple one. Well, simple is as simple does I guess. I tried to go back to where the mistake had occurred but that was fruitless so I ripped the whole things out again. Now I am knitting more carefully to make sure I don't make the same stupid mistake (or others) again although the lifeline might not be a bad idea.

As you can see I have a long way to go : ) Here is a photo of the shawl taken from the pattern, Mara, designed by Madelinetosh. It's a free download on Ravelry.

Doesn't the model have attitude? It's as though she's saying "I'm young, I'm hip ... after this photo shoot I'm going to meet Eduardo at the cafe for a cappuccino." Here's what I'll probably look like wearing my shawl ... taking a rest before starting my next knitting project.

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comments:

Hi Shirlee, love your yarn choice for the shawl. I downloaded that pattern (and too many others)but haven't started it yet...just finished knitting a skirt for my grand-niece who will be 2 in September and am starting another one for another petite girl. Loved your comment about the model and the elephant is just too, too funny!! Vera

Hi Shirlee...beautiful threads,,,I tried to learn to knit a couple of years ago, I had done ok, never finished anything,,I'm sure by now I'll just have to start over. I love to crochet, especially doilies and also tat..one of these days I'll have time to return to the knitting needles..Thank you so much for sharing your bird, I so enjoyed making it for you...and the hunt for the oil can was a thrill!..LOL on the elephant,,,too funny. Have a great day,,~Ronda

Well done Shirlee on your knitting I use to knit for a job and after many years of knitting I just cant pick my needles up , I am so into my cross stitch now.Lovely bird and wow your RAK of threads are just wonderful and I am so happy they came to you, you are such a kind person.I like Elephants so you would look beautiful, hugs.

I just love reading your posts, Shirlee, because you never cease to make me smile :) (And I think the elephant looks much more lovable than that model!). Your shawl colors are lovely with all the blues, teals, and purples--can't wait to see more!

It's a beautiful 79 here--no humidity--just perfect. Sure you don't want to move back to "The Burgh?"

What did I tell you about those snort warnings??? Oh my HECK!!! You're a hoot. (And, yikes - the colors on that elephant shawl are eerily similar to what you're doing yours in....) And, I agree....definitely an Eduardo..... A lifeline in knitting??? Hmmm....you're making this sound like an interesting craft. I like the idea very much for some reason. Stay cool my friend - we're warming up here too - today was supposed to be around 88 and the same tomorrow - but, there's a breeze, and the humidity doesn't seem too bad at this point. Can't be too bad - the Snow Dog is laying outside in the sun.....Smiles & Hugs ~ Robin

I'm about ready to send Masterchief out to the back 40 to do his rain dance. We need rain SO BADLY!!

I don't knit...or crochet. I did however teach myself how to knit those neat dishcloths. That's all. Every once in a while I'll break out the old knitting needles and make a few more to replace the ones that jumped to the rag bag.

Hello Shirlee! The threads you got are absolutely gorgeous! I love their rainbow colours. Happy stitching! I'm a bit envious to you as I can't knit at all. The shawl will be a real masterpiece, I suppose. Show the final result to us soon!

We are headed up to over 100 after Thursday. I hate it too. Like you I will be hermiting inside and hopefully stitching.That floss looks lovely. I can't wait to see what you stitch with it.Great start on your shawl :)Keep cool!!